Do liver hemangiomas occasionally cause pain?

Written by Liu Wu Cai
Hepatobiliary Surgery
Updated on September 08, 2024
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Patients with hepatic hemangioma may occasionally experience pain. Although hepatic hemangioma is a benign tumor, it can still cause pain in the liver area. Moreover, the most severe complication of hepatic hemangioma is liver bleeding. Therefore, it is advisable to perform surgery as soon as possible when the tumor is large. The primary method of surgery is interventional surgery, which can achieve a cure by ligation. If not actively managed, liver bleeding can occur, leading to a critical condition, even causing hemorrhagic shock and death. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to this condition, and for smaller hepatic hemangiomas, regular follow-up color ultrasound examinations should be conducted to dynamically observe changes in size.

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Difference between liver hemangioma and liver cancer in ultrasound

Liver hemangiomas display a variety of appearances on ultrasound, including hyper-echoic, hypo-echoic, and mixed echoes. Typically, hemangiomas appear on ultrasound as round or oval hyper-echoic masses, with internal echoes that may show a sieve-like change. In contrast, liver cancer primarily appears as hypo-echoic on ultrasound, and liver cancer symptoms are more varied because most liver cancers develop on the basis of cirrhosis. In addition to hypo-echoic masses, there are other manifestations, such as an incomplete liver capsule, widened liver fissures, spleen enlargement, and dilated portal veins, which are used to differentiate from hemangiomas.

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Symptoms of malignant liver hemangioma

Thank you. When deterioration occurs in patients with hepatic hemangiomas, the main complication is the rupture of the vascular tumor leading to hemorrhage. This can potentially cause hemorrhagic shock and result in death. Regarding hepatic hemangiomas, they are benign tumors. When they are small in size, they typically do not cause any noticeable discomfort and do not require special treatment; regular follow-up with ultrasound examination to monitor changes in the condition is sufficient. For larger hepatic hemangiomas, there is a potential risk of rupture and bleeding. Therefore, dietary considerations for patients with hepatic hemangiomas should include avoiding spicy and irritating foods, as well as hard-to-digest foods, to reduce the burden on the liver, which is conducive to recovery of the condition.

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Is a two-centimeter liver hemangioma serious?

When the volume of a liver hemangioma is two centimeters, the condition is relatively mild and usually does not present any obvious symptoms, thus requiring no special treatment. Of course, it is advisable to avoid hard-to-digest foods and spicy foods to reduce the burden on the liver, which can help control the condition. However, for patients with larger liver hemangiomas, there is often a risk of rupture and bleeding, making the condition more severe and sometimes leading to death due to hemorrhagic shock. Therefore, for patients with larger liver hemangiomas, it is advisable to opt for surgical treatment as early as possible, as surgery is the only way to completely treat the condition.

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Hepatobiliary Surgery
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Can a six-centimeter liver hemangioma be treated with minimally invasive surgery?

For patients with liver hemangiomas, if the size reaches six centimeters, it is relatively large at this point and there may be a risk of rupture and bleeding. Thus, it is advisable to opt for early surgical intervention. The primary method for this would be minimally invasive surgery, which is achieved through vascular interventional surgery. Post-surgery, it is still necessary to have regular follow-up examinations with color Doppler ultrasound to monitor changes in the condition. Generally, for patients with liver hemangiomas of a relatively small size, they usually do not experience significant discomfort and do not require special treatment. Regular follow-up with color Doppler ultrasound to observe any changes in size is sufficient. Of course, it is advisable to avoid spicy and irritating foods in the diet to reduce inflammatory stimulation and lessen the burden on the liver, thereby helping to control the condition.

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Why is it not recommended to perform surgery on hepatic hemangiomas?

Patients with hepatic hemangioma generally do not exhibit obvious symptoms, and most cases are discovered during color Doppler ultrasound examinations. Hence, surgical treatment is not required at this time. It is possible to regularly re-examine the color Doppler ultrasound dynamics and monitor any changes in volume. However, for large hepatic hemangiomas, complications such as rupture, bleeding, and even life-threatening hemorrhagic shock may occur, leading to death. Therefore, early surgical treatment is advised for such cases. The primary method is minimally invasive surgery achieved through interventional procedures. Post-surgery, regular follow-up with color Doppler ultrasound is also necessary to dynamically observe any changes in the condition.